I'm Forrest Carr, novelist, blogger, land snark, and former TV news director and talk radio host. I tackle politics, cats, the media, paranormal psychology, dreams, God, guns, evolution, rat bastards, and anything else that might make you think or laugh, maybe even simultaneously. And, oh yeah, I have cancer, which makes me the Walter White of bloggers. You have been warned.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Publishers Weekly gives nod to "A Journal of the Crazy Year"!

Lightning strikes again as
another internationally respected literary reviewer adds its voice to the growing
chorus of praise for a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic vision of the future ripped
right out of this morning’s newspaper headlines.

I
can’t believe it. It’s happened again!

The
influential, internationally-respected literary reviewer Publishers Weekly opens its review of A Journal of the Crazy Year with this line: “Fresh thinking and feeling animate this
heartfelt postapocalyptic novel.” After
summarizing the plot, the reviewer goes on to say: “The book is stuffed with untrimmable,
character-driven, cogent dialogue, and Carr’s sincere investment in the concept
of people groping their way through hell on Earth makes his story a fascinating
read all the way to its chilly, barely hopeful conclusion.”

Wow. I mean, wow.

This
comes right on the heels of a thumbs-up from the equally well respected Kirkus
Reviews outfit.Here’s some of what it
said:“Author Carr (Messages, 2013) does an exemplary job portraying the media circus
surrounding [a] comet and the possibility of flesh-eating mobs.... Early on,
Carr employs jet-black humor reminiscent of Vonnegut.... A truly unconventional
ending makes for a worthy trip.A great
case made for the idea that the end isn’t nigh—it’s already here.”

Add
that to what Fantascize.com said: “Carr's
impressive scientific and historical details elaborately frame the danger of
the unknown. The origins of the comets and some cool references to Atlantis and
the Genesis flood, interestingly make a point that history is about to repeat
itself. There's education and mystification in the midst of the thrilling
narrative, and they fit well.... There's a World War Z-feel to this
journalistic approach, and Carr –a journalist himself – makes his voice sound
introspective and personal.”

Detail from Kindle cover: motorist captures jet crash

And
add all that to what readers are
saying:

"This was magnificent. I know this will stay with me for a while. It was certainly a page turner, so hard to put
down."--Amazon.com 5-star reviewer

"Thanks for no sleep that night
when I found myself finishing it up at 4 am on a work night! And the ending was
just so unexpectedly PERFECT."

--Amazon.com
5-star reviewer

When I began my literary journey two years ago, I
didn’t really know whether I could write or whether other people might think
so. Now professional reviewers and
critics are saying the same thing. In
short: This not your father’s zombie
novel. You have never read a zombie
novel quite like this one. It has a
fresh, innovative approach, an unconventional ending, and characters and
dialogue that will stay with you. It
also has the virtue of having that “ripped from the headlines” feel. The disease that inspires the novel was
real, having mysteriously struck and then as mysteriously disappeared in the
early 20th century, with no cause or cure ever having been found. Who is to say it could not come back in even
more virulent form?

The print edition of A Journal of the Crazy Year
(with a new cover that I’m very excited about) will be available starting January
12. (I will make an announcement at
that time). Meanwhile, if you have a Kindle or Kindle
app, you can read it right now at a really low price.